Zachary Thach
by Grey Angel 234
Summary: Takes place shortly after Mass Effect one and follows the story of Zachary Thach, a natural born human Biotic One of three natural biotics, but we'll get to them later As he makes his escape from a large human colony.
1. Chapter 1

**Zachary Thach**

**Zach put on his Survivor armor and slung the backpack over his shoulder. The pack carried everything he owned and his father's research notes. Cerberus was coming and it looked like he'd have to get off the colony. **_**Someone must have told them. I reckon I've got 10 minutes before they arrive. **_**Zach had only been on this colony for a month, living in a bleak apartment he only had a small bathroom, and a rickety old bed that was torn and smelled like a long dead carcass. He had been working as a vehicle repair man in a local shop not too far away.**

_**I've only been here a month and someone has already found me and reported it to Cerberus.**_** Zach debated going to find their informant and teaching him a lesson he won't soon forget. He decided to just hurry up and get the hell off the planet. Cerberus was a terrorist cell that believed humans were the dominant species in the galaxy. They were well funded and organized. Zach's father was killed by some of Cerberus' henchmen after refusing to give them his research. Now Zach was on the run and has been for almost 5 years. In that time Zach has stayed on every Alliance world.**

**Zach began to walk out of the apartment, but stopped at the mirror. He seemed older than 20. His brown hair was showing some grey, his features were gaunt. The only part of his face that still betrayed his age was his eyes. Glowing a bright pure green, his eyes were one of the most identifying things about him. **_**The only sign of Cerberus' mark upon me. **_

**Zach walked out into the 10****th**** floor hallway. It was well lit, but the walls were in disrepair. The sky blue paint was chipping off the walls and the carpet on the floor was dirty and torn. Zach continued his march down the hall and reached the elevator. He pushed the call button. To Zach's surprise the doors immediately opened. But, inside the car there was two armored men with guns to match. In an instant Zach recognized the three headed dog insignia on their helmets. Now he didn't have to hold back on these guys. **

**Zach grabbed the knife that was sheathed on his right arm and threw it at the man on the left. Armor shields only react to speed, like a bullet fired from a gun. It wouldn't detect a knife as a threat, so the soldier on the left didn't stand a chance as the knife slid through the neck and severed the spinal cord. The second man was blinded by the arterial spray and fired as he moved to the side. Zach knew this old elevator had only one tether he drew his Edge pistol and fired at the ceiling. He heard the cable snap and the car fell down the shaft. Zach quickly moved back down the hall to the emergency exit. **

**He opened the steel door and was greeted by a spray of bullets. Zach rolled to the right. His shields were half gone, but they would recharge in a second. **_**With the stairs out of the equation I have to make my way out.**_** Zach heard a pin snap and a grenade bounced its way into the hall. Zach kicked the grenade back down the stairwell. He heard a slight pop and the hiss of gas. They wouldn't risk using explosives because he had his father's files in his pack. He listened to the soldiers on the stairs coughing. Unfortunately, they activated their seals and were making their charge up the stairs. Zach's pistol might kill the first guy, but the others would get to him. **

**Zach stood up and ran. The Cerberus soldiers were right behind him. He could hear the rounds bounce off his shield and wiz by him. Zach kept running. The hallway forked up ahead and he slid to the right. Zach heard one of the soldiers trip over the torn carpet. Zach noticed a window at the end of the corridor. **_**That's my way out.**_

**Zach sprinted towards the window firing his pistol at the same time. The round cracked the Plexiglass window. **_**Hopefully it'll break.**_** Finally he hit it and it shattered. Now Zach was falling trough the air, the air ripping past him and focused his mind and imagined himself using a biotic push to help him push off the ground and flip. He felt his body grow cold as his body unleashed his powers. He was falling face first, but he created a cushion of air that he used to flip off of. His biotic powers allowed him alter reality. He landed on his feet in front of the building. It was night on this colony-world at 3 P.M. and no one seemed to be around. Zach stopped caring what the names of the colonies were long ago and he couldn't remember what the name of this one was either and he didn't care. All he had to do was find a way off.**

**He scanned the street and saw what he knew must be the vehicle that the soldiers came in on. It was more of a civilian van that was slightly modified with extra armor, but it still had the green paint on the outside. It looked like one of beetles that had the green exoskeleton. Zach made his way over to the modified van with his pistol. He knocked twice on the sliding side door. And sure enough it opened and a man with a beard stuck his head out. Zach pressed the pistol to his head. Zach recognized him from the repair shop as a customer whose car he worked on a week earlier. **

"**Start the car." Zach ordered.**

**The man moved to the front seat where he put the keys in and started it. Zack moved in behind him and looked around. There were computer screens all inside confirming that this was the van that Cerberus used.**

"**Now get into the passenger seat." Zach sat down in the driver's seat. The informant was sweating. **

"**Please don't kill me. I have a wife and kids." The man said in a deep whiney voice.**

"**What is your name?" Zach asked.**

"**P-P-Paul"**

"**Okay, Paul, just don't do anything stupid and you'll live. But if you try anything," Zach pointed the gun at Paul's head. "Then I can't guarantee your life." **

**Zach started to drive toward the spaceport. He probably wouldn't kill Paul. He couldn't take father away from a family the way his father was taken from him. **_**I've got to get off the planet, maybe Paul knows which ship belongs to Cerberus.**_** "Paul, what did the ship that your colleagues have look like?"**

"**I-I-I, uh, they, um-" Paul stuttered. Zach gave him some encouragement by sticking the gun to his head. "It was a Cord-Hislop private shuttle, red, with the serial number CH-9816473."**

"**Good, Paul." Zach put the gun back into its holster. "Paul let me ask you a question. Would you give your life to Cerberus?"**

"**Yes."**

"**How about your family?"**

**Paul hesitated on that one. "If Cerberus says it's for the greater good, yes."**

"**What about the lives of hundreds or thousands of innocents?"**

**Paul once again stopped, but he didn't answer. Zach turned to look at him and said "Open up your door Paul." **

**Paul slowly opened the door. The wind rushed inside. Zach spoke again. "The next time Cerberus tells you something is for the greater good, remember our chat."**

**And with that Zach pushed him out the door. In the rear view video he saw the informant roll along the road before coming to a stop. Zach knew the man was alright. Zach had been asked those same questions before and gave the same answers. **_**Hopefully the man will remember this and get out of Cerberus while he still can.**_

**Zach now debated on the best way into the space port. He couldn't go though the front gate because the police would no doubt be looking for a murderer, meaning Zach, who killed 2 Alliance soldiers. It was the same bulls**t that always happened to Zach. So that left the service areas. Zach remembered his mechanic's ID card and rummaged though his pack until he found it. He hoped that they won't question his armor. Zach reached the port as dawn approached. He estimated that he had 20 minutes before the soldiers returned from the apartment building. He slowly drove up to the security point. An Alliance personnel officer sat in a booth next to the blockade. Zach found some sunglasses and put them on. The Alliance officer flagged him over. "Sir, may I see some ID."**

**The woman was very relaxed and had a decent body. Zach handed her his mechanic's papers. During the whole conversation she flirted with him. **_**That's a good sign.**_** Finally she let him through. Zach parked the car in a secluded area. Zach got out of the van and did a quick look around. He strode into the main hangar bay. Inside it was dark and cool. The Spaceport was several miles wide and was able to fit ships as large as a small town. Ships of every size sat in their docks and Zack easily saw the ship he was looking for amongst the spider web of catwalks and cables. **_**Now I just need to find some paint. **_

**Zach tapped the nearest dockworker on the back. The dockworker's face was hidden behind a wielding mask. **

"**What is it?" the dockworker grumbled.**

"**I need to find the storage area."**

"**You want to head down to the fuel tanks, take a left, and about 10 meters down the hall it'll be the second door on the right." **

"**Thanks."**

"**Don't mention it." The dockworker continued wielding the metal plate onto a docking clamp. Zach pasted the e-zero fueling tanks. E-zero was ship fuel and it was highly radioactive. Most human biotics gain their abilities from exposure to it at a young age. This happened though various industrial and shipping accidents that had occurred science e-zero's discovery. Zach was not one of those people.**

**As he past the tanks and took a left at the walkway a squad of Alliance marines marched past on the way to the service entrance. **_**Great, I've got to hurry or they'll be on to me.**_** Zach quickened his pace and arrived at the storage area. Several workers and forklifts were busy maneuvering supplies back and forth along the isles. Zach noticed a shipping manifest that the various dockworkers used signed in and out the materials. Zach went over and signed his fake name and checked out a can of red and black paint. He found his prize and left the storage area to go to his soon to be stolen new ship. After maneuvering through the walkways he arrived at the ship. The actual ship name was **_**Livene**_**.**

**Zach found an extendable scaffold and lifted himself to rear of the ship where the serial number was. Using the paint he changed around the serial number. Now that his work was complete he could—**

**Zach suddenly saw the Alliance soldiers marching back to his position. Behind them he saw one of the Cerberus goons pointing to the **_**Livene**_**. **_**Aw hell. **_

**Zach started to retract the scaffold. Meanwhile the column of soldiers was getting closer. Zach's scaffold finally came to a stop right in front of the soldiers. The lead soldier stopped him as he got off. **

"**What were you doing up there," Zach now saw the lead soldier was a sergeant. The sergeant looked at his name tag. "Johnny."**

"**I was just fixing up the paint, sir." Zach replied keeping his voice calm and cool. **

**The Cerberus man in the back suddenly recognized him, "That's the man! He was the one who killed my friends and stole my car! Get him!"**

**Zach saw the Alliance soldiers raise their guns. He kicked the red paint at the soldiers leaving them momentarily blind. He gave a couple of quick punches to the sergeant's head, before pushing him into his men. Then Zach moved on to the next soldier, pulling the man's combat knife out of its sheath. He jabbed the knife into the joints of the armor where it was weakest. The soldier fell unable to move because his armor froze up. **_**Immobilized**_**. Zach came in low on the next guy cutting his knees out from underneath him. **_**Out of the picture.**_** The sergeant was back on his feet. He brought up his gun to shoot. Zach grabbed one of the privates and the sergeant continued to aim for Zach. He fired, but Zach moved the soldier he had in his hands into the path of the bullets. All she had time to say was "No" before the bullets hit her inactivated shields. **_**Wounded.**_** Zach dropped her to the ground and delivered a round house kick to the face that sent the sergeant over the railing. He screamed as he fell, and he hit the ground with a thud. **_**Paralyzed.**_** The last soldier shakily held his pistol, but the Cerberus guy was ready and willing to shoot. Zach pulled out his new knife and threw it at the Cerberus thug's hand. He dropped the gun and clutched his wounded hand. Zach moved forward and the last private fired and took a step back, onto the now empty can of paint. The private slipped, his shot going wide. Zach closed the distance to the Cerberus agent and despite the man fevered pleas for mercy, Zach snapped his neck. **_**Dead.**_** The private was getting up and Zach wrapped an arm around his neck. As Zach increased the pressure on the private's neck he whispered, "I never wanted this."**

**The private passed out and Zach dropped him to the floor. **_**Unconscious. **_**Zach now did a final scan of the dock everyone was running to and fro in the panic caused by the gun fire. The Sergeant ten feet below weakly tried to move, the private who Zach cut the knees out from was holding his bleeding legs. The soldier whose suit locked up was struggling in vain to move. The wounded soldier laid on the ground face up weakly murmuring to herself. Zach went over and patched her up with medigel so she wouldn't bleed to death, and whispered in her ear "Next time you go to stop someone dangerous, activate your shields beforehand."**

**With that Zach went on board the ship and locked the door behind him. After doing a quick search of the ship he went to the cockpit and activated the shuttle. He rummaged through his pack and pulled out his media player and plugged it into the dashboard. Old school metal flowed though the speakers as he escaped from the planet and out of the system. **


	2. Chapter 2

**The smooth soft sound of the orchestra of some city back on Earth played through the speakers. The recently stolen shuttle, Livine, drifted silently through the Angrabar system, located in the dangerous Terminus sector. Despite the high risk of Pirate and Mercenary attacks, the pilot of the unarmed ship wasn't particularly worried. Of course it was just a Virtual Intelligence; the real pilot was in the midst of a horrible dream. **

**Zach awoke with a scream. His eyes quickly moved back and forth trying to register that it was just a dream, that he wasn't strapped to the chair. His breath was ragged and deep. Zack placed his head in his hands, trying to control the fear, the panic. He shook his head, but his dream held on, like a predator digging into its prey. It would not be forgotten that easily.**

**The man in the white lab coat. The chair. The glowing syringe. The pain. The helplessness. Zach reached into his pocket and gently clutched the data core. Slowly he began to relax, and his heart slowed as good memories replaced the bad. Briefly Zach considered the data core. It was a non-descript black cube. Zach couldn't even use it, because it had some kind of firewall on it. He assumed that it was his father's research that was supposed to have the ability to change humanity for better or for worse. That was why Cerberus was after him.**

**He put the core back in his pocket. The small cabin on the shuttle was for who ever owned the craft. It was quite meager, with only a small desk in the corner and closet sized bathroom at the far wall. Zach got up from the bunk and walked over to the sink.**_** Some cold water will do me some good.**_** Zack turned on the spout and cupped his hands together. The cold was good. It made him feel alive and focused. When he brought his face up to the mirror he caught his damnable eyes staring back at him. The VI pilot sent a chime through the speakers. Zach broke his trance and grabbed his trusted pistol. **

**As he walked toward the cockpit, he couldn't help but notice how cramped the shuttle was. He had barely gone ten meters before he stopped at the cockpit doors. He activated door controls and they whished open. Zach took his seat in the pilot's chair and looked out the viewport. **

**The blue gas giant, Angrabar Seven, loomed ahead. When Zach activated the holograph controls, the VI politely reminded, "Heat sink needs to be discharged."**

"**I know, I know." Zach replied as he positioned the ship closer to the gas giant's atmosphere. For a luxury cruiser the Livine wasn't very economical as far as the damn fuel cells went. The Livine would need to sit in the magnetic field of the planet, to unload the extra heat that has built up. **_**I don't have time for this**_**. Zach was on his way to Omega, a place where supposedly anyone can hide from the law. Or in Zach's case, Cerberus. **

**Another chime went off to his left. Zach glanced over, expecting to find a report on the status of the engines, but instead the computer calmly noted a hailing from a ship that appeared from behind the planet. Zach immediately felt himself tense, that paranoia that he was trained to follow, blared several alarms in his head. **_**They were just waiting for a weakly armed vessel to stop. Damn pirates.**_** He began to run through different scenarios in his head. None of them looked as though they would end well. The gentle chime seemed to sound faster and more urgently. **

**His mind raced for a solution. Zach answered the hail. The central screen changed and showing the image from the pirates' bridge. The pirate crewmen were at their stations. They were aliens, with brown skin and two sets of eyes. **_**Batarians.**_** Mankind's greatest rival in the Terminus Systems. The Batarian captain stepped into the center of the screen. Like the others on his crew he had four eyes and brown skin, but his eyes had the look of a stone cold killer. **

"**I assume that you are the proprietor of the mighty fine vessel that you are piloting." The captain said as he collected a data pad from one of his crewmen. No doubt that it had the scan results of the Livine. His eyes widened as he must have saw the price tag on the Livine, "Yes, what a fine ship indeed. You must have paid a small fortune for it."**

**Zach's mind was in a panic mode, but to the captain, his face was cool and collected. Zach finally hatched an idea and quickly put it into action. **

"**Well, you could say that I got it at a heavily discounted price." Zach replied, "I was hoping to get a crew at Omega, but it seems that I won't be getting there anytime soon."**

"**You are a smart man then. So turn over the ship to me and I promise that you shall get to Omega, unharmed." A couple of the pirates laughed in the background. Zach knew as well as anyone else that Batarian pirates were slave traders. **_**I'm not going away in chains.**_** Zach checked the ships engines. They were already red hot. Zach wouldn't get far, but then again, he wouldn't need to. He only needed to get out of the atmosphere. **

"**Captain, you drive a hard bargain, but unfortunately, my ship isn't for sale. If you want it you'll have to catch me first." The captain blinked in surprise, and said, "So tell me, how do you plan to escape?"**

"**Simple. I'm gonna outrun you." On that note, Zach cut off the screen and gunned the engines out of the atmosphere. He set the autopilot controls and tore out the emergency shut off wire. **_**I've got to get moving.**_** Zach leapt from the pilot's chair and rushed down the hall. He put on his armor. Once the helmet was on he checked diagnostics. Everything was good, seals were tight, and the oxygen recycling filter was activated. He felt the floor lurch as the Livine took a hit from the pirates. **

**The lights in the hall turned red as life support was knocked out. He didn't have much time. Zach collected his things and stuffed them into a pressurized crate. Another hit sent him into the wall. Zach rushed down the corridor to the airlock. The ship's automated VI warned him, "Foreign ship is preparing to dock."**

**Zach reached the airlock and closed the door behind him. He hit the red button that opened the outside doors. As the doors opened Zach grabbed the bulkhead. The air rushed out into the vacuum of space, the various boxes and equipment stored there flew out. Finally once the airlock was clear, he let go. Zach was propelled out of the ship and soon there was no sound, but the slow steady breaths and the beating of his own heart. **

**The Livine drifted below him and the pirate ship was close behind. He briefly imagined what the pirates were thinking. The pirate captain would think that Zach was lightening the load and trying to push for speed. **

**The pirate craft docked and Zack could imagine a group of cutthroats rushing aboard. Of course what they didn't know was that the engines were about to explode. A few minutes passed and Zach drifted further away from both ships. By now the pirates had found out that the engines were reaching critical mass. Zach saw the pirate ship suddenly attempt to pull away. He could imagine the looks on the boarding crew, with their faces twisted in anger and despair. The captain, no doubt was yelling at the bridge crew urging them to move faster. Zach knew already that it was too little, too late. The Livine blossomed in a fiery, but silent explosion that engulfed both ships. Every one of the pirates was gone, vaporized in the blast. **

**Now that the immediate threat was gone, Zach began the second part of his plan. His armor was called survivor for a reason. This company who made it also made void suits, and Zach began to channel his mental energy to create a biotic stasis field. That was the only way that he could survive. His suit soon activated a homing beacon, as Zach's biotics began to slow down his heart rate. Zach clinched his hand around the crate, to ensure that it wouldn't drift away. Slowly his eyes grew heavy and he started to drift off into a deep sleep.**

_**The room was dark and cold. Zach was restrained in the chair. He couldn't think straight. Something was definitely wrong. He tried to concentrate, to use that mental force that his father said made him brilliant. Zach strained and struggled, both physically and mentally, to break the metal bonds that held him down. **_**Why is it not working, **_**he thought. Normally his biotic power could have twisted the metal into scrap within seconds, but now it seemed that he powerless. All his life he had been told that he was better than everyone else, and now here he was, as lowly as everyone else. **_**So this is what it feels like, to be weak and defenseless, to be unable to do anything to save yourself.**__

_**Zach then thought that he was in some kind of test, like what Uncle Yaris used to do. Put Zach in situations to learn something, and when he learned the test could finish. "Uncle, I get it now!" Zach shouted into the dark. "I've learned what it is like to be weak and to not rely on my biotics."**_

_**No reply. The bonds didn't retract. Zach began to worry. **_**This isn't right. This is not how it is supposed to happen. Where's Yaris? **_**A light flickered on overhead, now he could see the room. It was bland, just four walls and a door. The door was opposite him, and it swished open. There was what Zach took to be a scientist and two heavily armed men. The Man in the lab coat, pulled out a large syringe inside was a glowing yellow liquid. He stepped forward. Zach's heart started beating faster, his breathing was shallower. **_**What is this feeling? **_**Zach began to feel fear for the first time in his sixteen year life. He thrashed in the chair, trying desperately to escape. The scientist was right next to him now and calmly said, "Hold the Subject down."**_

_**The two armed men grabbed Zach's arm and forced it to be still. The Man in the lab coat stuck the needle in. The physical pain of the needle was not the worst part. It was the liquid. As it flowed through is veins, it burned. Zach lost control of his panic and he screamed. There still was a lot of juice left in the needle.**_

**While Zach floated in space, another ship entered the system. It was decrepit and almost at the point of being scraped. The ship's crew was not human, but nor were they pirates. The ship came to discharge its heat sink as well. As it came close to Angrabar Seven, its decaying sensors picked up the debris from the Livine and its would-be predator. The alien captain was intrigued by the wreckage and moved the ship cautiously forward.**

**The scanners soon picked up the small ball of life. The alien ship's pilot plotted a course and opened the cargo bay. A team of two connected themselves to the ship using a high strength cord. They wore small Zero-Gravity propulsion packs. As they rocketed out of the cargo, it became apparent that this was no ordinary human. He seemed to shimmer in a cool blue envelope, which coated his entire body. **

**One of the rescuers grabbed the man's arms whilst the other raised the captain to tell them that the survivor was in good hands. The team began to jet back to the old ship, carrying Zach and his effects back onboard.**


End file.
